THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 119 
At different periods these slides occurring in the creek would 
form dams, or jams, and cause the water to stop flowing for one or 
two hours. It must be understood also that all this time the water 
was flowing under the snow, and was twenty to fifty feet in the creek 
bed as far up as we were able to see. 
The heavy snow falling on the buildings and the drifts made it 
necessary to keep at work removing it in order that the buildings 
would not crush. During this period the power plant which supplies 
the lights at the station went out of commission and made our work 
more difficult in caring for the little fish in the hatchery, as the 
snow which had been shoveled off the roof was all piled up in front 
of the windows, obscuring the daylight and it was as dark as night. 
Frequently it looked as though the elements were conspiring against 
us, and that it would be impossible to save the fry or buildings, and it 
was only by heroic efforts by the men and crew employed that enabled 
us to save the state’s property. Several of the men worked as long as 
thirty hours without stopping only long enough to grab a sandwich 
and cup of coffee. Fortunately some of the men on the ground were 
endowed with the spirit of fight and did not give up. This encouraged 
others and anyone of the employes who suggested that there was no 
use working any further got very little sympathy and was told that if 
they did not care to continue to work to go on home and go to bed. 
Upon the visit of two of the commissioners, in summing up as 
near as possible the loss sustained, we found that all the buildings 
had been saved and very little damage done; that the loss of fish had 
been surprisingly small compared with conditions which they had 
gone through. The actual loss of fish being smothered from snow 
settling in the ponds had been something less than 400,000. The fish 
that had escaped out of the ponds owing to the fact that the snow 
and ice had jammed against the screens and allowed the flow of water 
to go over same approximated two million salmon fry, but as these 
fish had been fed since November a big per cent of them would, no 
doubt, live and could not be considered a total loss. While the trout 
in the hatchery building did not thrive as well as they might, the 
actual loss is somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 out of 4,000,000. 
Upon the break of the storm, it looked as though our trouble 
was again over, and just succeeded in getting the hatchery troughs 
and some of the ponds cleaned up when a slide occurred and took 
out about 100 feet of our flume. A temporary flume was soon installed 
and water was again running into the ponds. As a result of this, there 
was only a few brood trout lost in the spawning races, as the man 
left to remove them did not get them down in time. We then con- 
gratulated ourselves upon the fact that we had again succeeded in 
saving our fry. The following morning an enormous slide, which 
started almost at the extreme top of the mountain, came down, 
bringing trees and roeks which weighed several tons, completely 
demolishing the flume for a distance of over 100 feet, taking out the 
Pipe line as well. Inasmuch as the pipe line was one which supplies 
the hatchery troughs where the young fish were held, it looked as 
though the fight was lost after all our hard fight, and that it would 
be necessary to liberate all our fish, which would result in an absolute 
loss of all our trout and very young salmon. We again decided not to 
give up-and, although the rocks were still coming down with the slides 
and it was necessary for the men to go in mud almost to their necks 
to get to the head of the pipe line, luck had not left us, for it left the 
joints of the pipe which had been taken out sticking up through the 
mud. They had been smashed somewhat, but by dodging the rocks 
